ABSTRACT
The abrupt COVID-19 pandemic has caught many educators unprepared and caused colleges and universities hastily move classes online, resulting in online education. This study investigates online learning in higher education by first examining student satisfaction with online learning, and then investigating student preferences for online learning systems and specific online learning features that enhance student learning, with an aim to explore possible pedagogical approaches for enhanced teaching and learning experience. To investigate the issues, a 25-question survey was designed and filled out by 161 respondents who were third-year undergraduates enrolled in the Introduction to Business course. The data indicate that overall students are satisfied with online learning in higher education. Online learning systems are effective in enhancing students' practical and theoretical learning experience. Furthermore, online features, namely centralized course management tools for course resources, assessment tools for assignments and engagement tools such as threaded discussions can be used to enhance student learning. The results infer that the adoption of blended learning could be a pedagogical approach that contributes to effective teaching and learning in blended learning environments.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To comprehensively analyze the epidemiological characteristics and emergency treatment of a case of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), analyze the suspected sources of infection, and provide a basis for the development of emergency treatment measures and prevention and control strategies of SFTS.
ABSTRACT
Background: Contact tracing with quarantine of SARS-CoV-2 positive contacts is required on an unprecedented scale worldwide.Methods: During February 1-March 25, 2020, COVID-19 cases in Hubei province were traced by more than 1800 teams. PCR positive contacts without COVID-19 symptoms with two or more consecutive positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 were categorized as: (a) asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 if without COVID-19 symptoms throughout the > 14 days of quarantine, (b) pre-symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 if COVID-19 symptoms started during the quarantine, and (c) false positive contacts if two consecutive follow-up qRT-PCRs were negative after an initial positive SARS-CoV-2 test.Findings: 48,944 COVID-19 patients identified 277,066 contacts who were tested for SARS-CoV-2; upon ascertainment, 3,152 contacts without symptoms were SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive without symptoms, and 50 contacts were false positives. After quarantine, 2928 were classified as asymptomatic and 174 were pre-symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 contacts, with a pre-symptomatic case fatality (11/174) of 6.3%. The average interval between the initial SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive and onset of COVID-19 symptoms was 9.7 days, and the average time from onset of symptoms to death for deceased pre-symptomatic cases was 6.3 days (range = 1 - 35 days).Interpretation: Contact tracing of COVID-19 cases required many contact tracing teams, testing all contacts without COVID-19 symptoms, and quarantine of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positive contacts. Countries with limited contact tracing, testing and quarantine of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infected contacts under-estimate the number of infected asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 contacts, and their contribution to COVID-19 spread.Funding Statement: National Natural Science Foundation of China (82041021), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-006371).Declaration of Interests: The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Medical Research Ethics Review Committee of Sun Yat-sen University School of Public Health (No.: 2020016). Consistent with public health regulations the informed consent was waived because data were collected as part of public health practice associated with the COVID-19 outbreak investigation and response.